Interlocking control mechanism



Sept. 23, 1930. w. LIBBY El AL 7 1,776,633

INTERLOCKING CONTROL MECHANISM s Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 6, 1929 Arroe/vEV Sept. 23;

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 6, 1929 Y ,fivvavroe: Mil/AM .4 l/aay d aw/xv #6165 Arme/vsx Fammgg 1 32 7 Sept. 23,1930. w. L. LIBBY4ET AL 1,776,633

INTERLOCKING CONTROL IECHANI SI Filed May 6, 1929 3 Sheds-Sheet 3 /zvvewraes: W/a/AM 1. [may fem/v #065 Patented Sept. 23,1930

UNITED 'STATE A ICE WILLIAM L. LIBBY AND EDWIN HUGE, OF OLEVELANIJpOI-IIO, ASSIG-NORS TO JOHN G. OLIVER, DOING BUSIIQESS' AS BARIDONS AND OLIVER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO INTERLOCKING colv'rnon EC ANISM application filed. May a, 1929. its; m a.

Our invention relates to interlocking control mechanism and is especially adapted for use on machine tools. This specification and these drawings describe and'show our invention as applied to the spindle drive of a turret lathe which is controlled by a pair of hand levers, one of which controls the for Ward rotation of the spindle and the other the reverse. In lathes which do. not have the in forward and reverse control levers interlocked the operator must always make sure that one lever is in neutral position before throwing theother lever into operating po sition. Thus if the lathe spindle is rotating it in a forward direction and. it is desired to re;

verse its direction of rotation, the operator of alathe not equipped with our invention must first place thelforward controllever in neutraland then throw thereverse' control 20 lever into operating position. If he fails to do this and throws the reverse control lever into operating position while thespindle is rotating in a forward direction a very'se'vere and harmful load will be placed on the draw 25 mg mechanism. 1 r

Our invention provides means whereby when the operator of the mach ne moves either control lever lntoan operating posi tion, the other control lever, ifthen in opereu ating position, will automatically, positively and simultaneously be thrown into its neutral position, This results in greater speed of operation and removes alldanger of damage to the machine through the operator neglecting to place one control lever in neutralbefore throwing the other into an operating position. y Among the objects of our invention are; v p The provision of means for inter-connecting and interlocking the movements of a pair of control levers which automatically and positively causes a. lever, which is in an operating position, to be moved to the neutral position when the other lever is moved to an operating position.

The provision of means for interlocking the movements of a pair of control levers and.

the mechanisms which they control whereby it'is impossible to place both levers in an operating position at the same tlme.

The provision of an. interlocking control mechanismfwhich maybe cheaply and easily. made and which occupies but little Space.

The provision of meansfor interlocking ments of a plurality and automatically controlling tl1emoveof levers and the shafts onwhich they are mounted whichmakes' it possible for the oper into an operating V throwing the levers position into neutral ator to throw any lever position without first which are in'operating The provision of means whereby the levers which control the forward and reverse friction drive "clutches on a singlelathespindle arej'so interlocked and interconnected that tobe engaged at the it isimpossible for the operator to cause both aforward and a reverse. friction drive clutch same time.

The provision of apparatus for in'terloclr ing'and interconnecting plurality of control shafts with leversmounted thereon, comprising a connecting said shafts, adapted link extending between to cooperate with extensions on said levers to cause any lever, Wll] ch 1s 1n an operating pos tion, to befnoved automatically into the neutral posltlon" when any other lever is m position. V H

The provision of themovements of co oved into an operating means" for interlocking ntrol levers whereby it a lever is in an operating position when another lever is thrown from neutral into an operating position,

will be automatically, positively and simul-. taneously I returned to its neutral position, but ,if-said first named lever isin its neutral ment of any other lever intoor out of anyof said other levers neutral positions.

In the drawings possible operating: .01

Fig. 1' is a vertical longitudinal section through the head stock of a turret. lathe equipped with our 1 improved interlocking control levers, both forward and reverse friction driving clutches being shown in the Fig.2 is a vertical Figs. 1 and 4.

' position it will not be disturbed by the move- Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 33 of Figs. 1 and 4.

F ig. 4 is a plan section on line 44 of Fi 2.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 of Figs. 2, 3 and 4, showing the interlocking control mechanism with both forward and reverse control levers in the neutral position.

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. 5 but showing the position of the parts when the reversing lever has been shifted into the reverse driving position. 7

Fig. 7 is a View similar to Fig. 6 but showing the position of the parts when the forward control lever has been shifted'into the low speed forward operating position.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing a modified form of our interlocking mechanism adapted to control forward and reverse operating leversboth of which have high speed and low speed operating posi In this view, the parts are shown with tions. both levers in neutral. 7 V

Fig. 9 is'a viewsimilar to Fig. 8 but showing the position taken by the parts when the reverse lever is shifted to high speed reverse from the position of the parts as shown in solid lines .in Fig. 8.'

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showingboth control levers in neutral position but with the connecting link in a different position. i

sliowingthe position taken by the parts when the. forward control lever is shifted to the high speed forward position from the position of the parts as shown in Fig. 10.

Theexplanation given above of the views shown in F igs 5 to 11 inclusive refers to the of shaft 5 and held in position by nut 9. This sprocket may be connected bya silent chain to the driving motor of the machine which is not shown but which may be of any suitable type. I

Gears 10, 11 and 12 are mounted on shaft 5 and keyed thereto so that they willrotate with it. Gear 12 meshes with gear 13 which is adapted to rotate freely on the spindle 1. The inside circumference of the gear 13 forms the internal conemember 13 of afriction clutch. The external conemember 14 of this clutch is mounted on the hub of the gear 13 and can rotate freely thereon. Driving lugs 15 are formed on the web of the external cone Fig. 11 is aview similar to Fig. 10 but friction member 14 and are adapted to be engaged by the lugs 16 which are an integral part of the sleeve 17. Sleeve 17 is keyed to the hollow spindle 1 and rotates with it. On the opposite end of the sleeve 17 from lug 16 are similar lugs 18 which engage driving lugs 19 onthe external cone friction member 20. This external icone friction member v2O is adapted to coact with the internal cone member 21 and is mounted to rotate freely and slide on the hub 21 of internal cone friction member 21. A gear 22 is keyed to the hub 21 on the opposite side of the web 23 from the internal cone friction member 21. This gear 22 meshes'with and is driven by the gear 11 and as it is keyed to hub 21 it will rotate freely on the spindle l with the internal friction member 21. Friction clutch actuating fingers 24 and 25 are mounted 011 pins which are supported in projections on the sleeve 17. A double acting wedge member 26 is rotatably and slidably mounted on the sleeve 17. The wedge member 26 has a rectangular groove 27. The yoke 28 is supported by shaft wedge operating yoke 28 has shoes 29 attached to its ends. These shoes 29 fit in groove 27. The yoke 28 is supported by shaft 30 which is mounted in a bearing on the front of the machine as shown in Fig. 3. The yoke 28 is also supported on its rear side by another shaft 30 fwhich is mounted in the rear of the machine and which is shown in Fig. 1

in dotted lines. Its mounting is the same as that of the yoke 31, shown in Fig. 2. A hand lever 32 (shown in dot-dash lines in Fig. 1) is clamped to the end of shaft 30 which projects out from the machine frame 4.

The above description covers the forward spindle driving mechanism of the lathe. As shown in Fig. 1, allfof the spindle controls are in neutral and the spindle is stationary. If it is desired to operate the spindle at low speed forward, the lever 32 is moved to the right, as seen from the front of the machine. This rotates shaft 30 and causes the shoes 29 which are mounted on the ends 33 of yoke 28 to move to the right. As these shoes 29 project into the groove 27 in the wedge member 26 their movement will cause this member 26 to slide to the right on sleeve 17. As this member 26 slides to the right its inclined surface 34 will be pushed under one end of the finger 24.. As this end offinger 24 is moved outwardly from the spindle by the inclined surface 34 of wedge member 26, its

other end will be forced into contact with and'will exert pressure on the button 35 which is mounted in the web of the external cone friction member 14. Thus the friction surface of the external cone member 14 will be forced into contact with. the friction surface of the internal cone member 13 which is on the inner circumference of gear 13. Assuming that at the time lever 32 is thrown to the right the countershaft SisbeingdriV'eii, then the gear 13 with its internal; cone frictionsurface 13 will be d-r-iveiibygear 12 and will be rotating-011 the spindle l/Vhen the external cone friction member14'engages the internal cone friction member 13 it will rotate with it and will drive the spindle 1 throughlug 15 on the web of member 14 and lug 16 which is integral with sleeve 17 whichiskeyed to the spindle 1. If it is desired to operate the machine at high speed forward, lever 32 thrownto the left. This causes wedge member 23 to slide to the left and forces the external cone friction member 20 into engagement withinternal cone friction member 21. The gear 22 which is driven by the large gear 11 is keyed to the hub of the internal cone friction member 1, :aswas aboveexplaincd.

:In the machine illustrated in Fig. 1 pro visionis madeforonly one reverse speed. Gear. 10dri'ves gear 36 through. an idler gear 37 which is mounted on anindependent shaft (not shown). Thus gear 36 is driven in a direction opposite tothat in which gears 22 and 13 are driven." Gear 36. is :keyed to the hub ofaninternal cone frictibnmeniber 37 which i's rotatably mounted on the spindle 1. An external cone friction member 33 retatably and slidably'mounted on the hubof the external cone friction member 3?. Lugs 39 on the internal cone friction member 33 coact with lugs 40 on the sleeve 41 the same manner as lugs 15 and 16, and 18 and 19,011 the forward driving friction clutches- :nn actuating finger 42, similar to fingers and25, 1s mounted on sleeve 41. A single wedge member 43 is rotatably andslid-ably,

mounted on sleeve 41.: The yoke 31 which actu ates'sleeve 43 is similar to'y oke 28 which actuates sleeve 26. Itis'best shown Fig. 2. A shaft 44' is attached to yoke 31 and extends out from a bearing in the front of the machine frame 4. 'Clamped tothis shaft is the reverse control lever 45 Assuming that the. parts are in the positions shown in Fig 1 and disregarding our interlocking mechanism, when it is desired to cause the spindle torotate in the reverse direction, the lever 45 is thrown tothe left. This causes the wedge 43 tomoveto the left, andfactuates the finger 42 causing the internal and external'friction members 37 and 38 to contact. v When these friction members are held together the spindle 1 will be driven in the reverse direction, the operation of .the

driving mechanism being thexsameinthis case as it is forthe'forward speeds, with the exception that idler gear 37 is inter-v posed between gears 10 and 36, causing gear care in changing from forward speed to re verse or vicevers'a to besure that the forward lever wasfin neutral before throwing the reverse control lever into an operating position or to see that the reverse controllever was in neutral before throwing the forward control lever into an operating posltion. By means of our interlocking mechanism it is impossiblefor the operator to throw one of the control levers into an operating position while the other controllever is still in an operating sition, as-will be explained later.

This link'46 is supported on the yoke operat ing'shaft's 39 and 44, the shaft 30 passing end of arm 49; This pin 50 fits into slot in the extension'52 on the link I A lever actuating member 53 is attached to link 46 adjacent to the slot 48.' A short aux iliarylever 54 is keyed to shaft30, This auxiliary lever 54- eXt-ends abovev and below the shaft 30 in line with operating lever 32.

. Arm 49 may be considered as a part of lever 45 as they are both fixed on the same shaft or fulcrum 44. In like manner auxiliary lever 54 may be considered a part of lever 32 as it is keyedtotheshaft orfulcrum 30 to which lever 32 is clamped.

Th parts of our interlockingmechanism are best shown in Figs. 2, 3,4 and 5 of the drawings. For practical reasons, the link '46, arm 49 and extension 52 are ofl'setas shown in-Figs. 2 andl. Inexplaining the operation of the interlocking mechanism references will be made particularly to Figs. 5, 6 and 7 which show views. of the operating levers in broken lines and essential parts of the interlocking mechanism in their various positions. i

In Fig. 5the solid lines and heavy dot and dash lines show the positions of the parts when both levers 32 and 45 are in their neutral positions, and the spindle 1 of the machine is not rotating. The light dot and dash lines'of Fig 5 showhow the forward, controllever 32andits auxiliary lever 54 may bethrown intoflow forward position 32 or,

high forward position 32. From this figure it'willflbe seen that the auxiliary lever arm 54 acts as a stop limiting the movement. of lever 32 in itshigh speed forward and low i the operator wouldhave to exercise very great The link 46 is provided with slots 47 and 48.

ion

forward-speed positions. When inthe high speed forward position 32'. theend 54 ofauxiliary lever 54 rests against the upperend of lever actuating member 53 and when in the low forward position 32 the lower end 54 of auxiliary lever 54 is in contact with the All:

-. speed of a lathe spindle.

lever has beenshifted into an operating position. From the position of the parts as shown in Fig.5, ifrthe forwardcontrol lever 32 was in neutral when reverse lever 45 was thrown into operating position, the pin will push against the extension 52 on link 46 and slide the link 46 to the right until lever actuating member 53 contacts with auxiliary lever 54 at both points 54 and 54 If, however, the forward control lever 32 is in the high speed forward position asshown at 32" at Fig- 5 and the reverse lever 45 is shifted into its operating position the lever actuating member 53 will push against the auxiliary member 54 at 54 and will throw the forward lever into its neutral position. Likewise, it will be evident that if the lever 32 is in its low forward position as shown at 32 in Fig. 5, throwing lever 45' into reverse will cause the lever actuating member 53 to push against auxiliary lever 54 at 54 and thus return the forward control lever to its neutral position and the parts will be inthe position shown in Fig. 6.

If the parts are 111 the position shown in Fig. 6 and the lever 32 is thrown into the low forward position the end 54* of auxiliary lever 54 will push against the end of lever actuating member 53 and slide the link 46 to the left. As link 46 moves to the left the extension 52 of link 46 will push against the pin50 andthus throw arm 49 and reverse control lever 45 into neutral position. The parts will then be in the position shown by the solid lines and heavy dot and dash lines in Fig. 7 The same result in regard to movement of reverse lever 45 into the neutral position will be obtained if the lever 32 is thrown to the left into the high speed forward position from the position of the parts as shown in Fig. 6, and when this has been done, the

parts will be in the position as shown in Fig.

pair of control levers each of which has a neu-.

tral and two operating positions. In this way it is possible to control the high and low forward spec-d and thehigh and low reverse The apparatus shown in Fig. 1 is adapted to give two speeds forward but only one reverse, and in order.

to secure a second reverse speed it would be necessary to equip such a machine with 'another drive gearon shaft 5 and another-friction clutch on the spindlel. The two reverse speeds could then be controlled by a single lever in the same manner that the two forward speeds are controlled in the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1.

to shaft 59. Thus lever 55 and auxiliarylever 57 form ineii'ect a single lever the fulcrum of which is shaft 56, and lever 58 and auxiliary lever 60 form a single lever the fulcrum of which is shaft 59 The link 61 has a slot at each end. Shaft 56 passes through slot 62 and shaft 59 passes through slot 63. The slots 62 and 63 are so formed that they allow the link 61 to slide horizontally on the shafts 56 and 59. The lever actuating members 64 and 65 are attached to the link 61 and are adapted to cooperate respectively with auxiliary lever 57 and auxiliary lever 60.

In Fig. 8 the solid lines and heavy dot and dash lines show the position, of the parts when'both control levers 55 and 58 are in their neutral positions and link 61 is in its farthest left position. .The light dot and dash lines in' Fig. 8 show how the forward control lever 55 together with auxiliary lever 57 can be moved into either the high speed forward position 55 or the low speed forward position 55 without changing the position of any of the other parts.

The solid lines and heavy dot and dash lines of Fig. 9 show the positions taken by the parts when the reverse lever is thrown into its high speed reverse position from the position of the parts as shown by F 8. It is immaterial in which of its three positions shown in Fig. 8 the forward control lever 55 may be at the time the reverse lever is thrown into the position shown in Fig. 9. If forward control lever 55 is in neutral, the movement of reverse control lever 58 into its high speed reverse position will cause'the lower end of auxiliary lever 60 to push against the lower end of lever actuating member 65, sliding link 61 to the right until lever actuating member 64 is in contact with both the upper and lower ends of auxiliary lever 57. If forward control lever 55 is in the high speed forward position 55 when reverse control lever' 58 is thrown into the high speed reverse posit-ion as shown in full lines in Fig. 9 the link 61 willbe moved to the right as above described and the upper end of lever actuating member 64 will push against the upper end of auxiliary lever 57 forcing it together with control lever 55 into the neutral position.

Thesame operations will take place if the forward control lever 55 is in its low speed forward position, as shown at 55 in F ig.

Inn

show the position" of the reverse control lever V 58 and auxiliary lever 60 when reverse control lever 58 has been thrown into the low speed reverse position from the position shown in F ig; 8. The resultof throwing reversecontrol lever 58 into low speed reverse position 7 is the same'a s .whenrit is thrown into the high speed reverse position, and the forward a control lever 55 will be thrown into the neu-.

tral position 'ifit was in either high speed or low speed operating positionand will be held in neutral if it was in neutral at the time of shifting the reverse lever 58. t

Fig. 10 is distinguished from 8 in that it shows in full lines and heavy'dot and dash lines another possible position of link '61 when control levers 55 and 58 are both in neutral. In this view the link 61 is in its farthest right position. The light dot and dash lines show how it is possible to throw the reverse control lever 58 together withauxiliary lever 60'into either high speed reverse position 58 or into the low speed reverse position 58 without disturbing the position of any of the other parts.

Fig. 11 is a viewshowing in full lines and heavy dot and dash lines the position taken by the'parts when-the forward control lever V 60 as the link 61 is moved to the left by the pressure of auxiliary lever 57 on lever actuating member 64.

A shift of the high speed control lever together with the auxiliary lever 57 from their neutral position in Fig. 10 into the low speed forward position as shownin the light dot and dash lines in Fig, 11 will accomplish the same results in regard to movement of link 61 to the left and return of reverse control 58 from its operating position to its neutral position. 7

From the above description and Figs. 8,9,

10 and'll of the drawings it will be evidentthat by means of this-modified form of our.in-'

vention it is possible to control four different 7 spindle speeds by means of two control levers without any danger of having more than one spindle driving means in engagement atone time. -v V V I We do not limit ourselves to the exact forms *of our invention shown in these drawings and described in this specification, as it will be e vident to those skilled in the art that our interlocking'mechanism is adapted for inter locking the control levers of many types "of machines and may be embodied in forms other outdepartin'g' from the scope of our invention. y i l r We claim:

1. Interlocking class described comprising a pair of rotatable shafts, an operating'lever mounted on each of said shafts, 'alink having slots in its opposite ends adaptedto fit over said shafts, mea-ns'attached to'fsaid link adapted to cooperate with means attached to said levers to cause said-link to' move between said shafts when one of said levers is moved intoan operating position and the other leveris in an operating position. 7

2.7Interlocking control mechanism of the class described comprising a pair of rotatable shafts, an operating levermounted on each of said shafts, a link having'slots inits oppo'site' ends adapted to fito'ver said shafts, lever actuating members on said link, each extending both above and below the center line offsaid shafts and each adapted to contact withone of said levers, whereby when one lever is in operating position movement of the other lever into an operating position will cause said link tobe moved toward the lever which is in operating position and one of said lever actuating members to contact with said lever and "move it in'to'v its neutral positionr i 3. In apparatus for controlling the forward and reverse rotation of a lathe spindle, a

forward controllever, a reverse control lever, means for conn'ec't1ngsa1d control levers 'to the forward and reverse spindle drivingmeans of the lathe, aninterconnecting-link extending between the fulcrums of said con" trol levers and having limited movement in control mechanism of the than those described and shown herein witha direction parallelto a line drawn" through f the fulcrums of said forward and reverse control levers, means for connecting said link and said reverse control lever whereby when said reverse lever is moved fromits neutral position said llnk is moved towards said for ward control lever, and a lever actuating member attached to said link extending both above and below thecofmmon center line of" the fulcrumsof'said control-levers and de-j vices associated with the forward control leverfor actuating the linkin the opposite 'direction' l i i H 4. Mechanisin' for interlocking a pa r of control levers each of which has a neutral position and operating positions, compris ing a connectingfllnk adapted to move in a direction parallel toa line drawnthrough the fulcrums jof said levers,-lever actuating membersattached to said link between said avail-11mm, and means on the levercooperating with the actuating members.

5. Mechanism'forinterlocking a pair of control levers-each of which has a neutral position and v two operating positions, "comprising .a connecting link adaptedt'o have i V limited'mov'einent in a direction parallel 'to aline drawn through the fulcrums of said levers, said link having lever actuating portions adapted to contact with auxiliary lever members, made integral with saidcontrol levers, at points both above and below the fulorums of said control levers and having saidlever actuating portions so spaced that when one of said control levers is moved into an operating position the other controllever willbe held in its neutral. position,or, if in an operating position, will be returned to its neutral position by pressure of said lever actuating portion of said link."

6. In apparatus for automatically moving ing one of a pair of control levers from an operating position into its neutral position when the other of said pair of control levers is moved from its neutral position into an operating position, said apparatus embody-. ing a linkhaving sliding movement on the fulcrums of said-levers, a pair of lever actuating members onsaid link, said lever actuating membersbeing spaced apart a distance less than the'distance between said fulorums of said levers and disposed between said fulc'rums.

7. In apparatus of the class described, a

pair of control shafts, a control lever attached to each of said shafts, a link extending between said shafts,'sa-id link being supported so that it may slide in a'direction parallel to a linepassing through thelongitudinal axes of both said shafts and'perpendicular thereto, means for limiting the sliding movement of said link, and lever actuating members onsaidlink adapted to return either control lever which is in an operating positionto its neutral position when the other control lever is moved into an operating position. 1

8. In a mechanism of the type set forth, a shaft orv spindle, gearing for driving the shaft at one speed in one direction and at two speeds in the opposite direction, control mechanism for this gearing embodyingtwo levers, one controlling the driving of the shaft at one speed in one direction and the other at two speeds in the other direction, and devices associated -with said control levers whereby when either lever is moved into 01)- erative position, the other lever if inoperative position will be shifted to non-operative position.

signatures.

WM. L. LIBBY., EDWIN HUGE.

9. Ina mechanism of the type set forth, a V

shaft or spindle, gearing for driving the shaft at one speed in one direction and at two speeds in the opposite direction, control mechanism for this gearing embodying two levers, one controlling the driving of the shaft at one speedin one direction and the other at two speeds in the other direction, and devices associated with said control levers whereby when either lever is moved into opera-tive position, the "otherlever if in operalilVO'POSlblOIl will be shifted to non-operative 

